PSIR Optional Paper-I Section A by R P Singh

Model Answer

Question #1. What do you understand by Marx’s perspective on Human Essence and Alienation?

Hints:

Marx in his early works delves into the idea of true freedom. Is unsatisfied with another interpretation given to freedom in liberals capitalistic society. Marx feels that market forces have constraint freedom.  He analyses the capitalistic system and concludes that capitalism destroys human nature and alienates man from himself.

Marx considered that what makes us human and we love to do work. Work allows some Man to

• Express his creativity
• Earn his livelihood
• To grow and flourish

Marx calls this as species essence .With his work man is able to contribute and connect with the society. But in capitalistic mode of production man is forced to work for wages. Marx concludes that this causes alienation.

• Alienation from the product

In capitalistic workers produce for the sake of market. They are not connected with the product that they produce. After paying metre wages to the workers Bourgeoisie claim ownership over the product.

• Alienation from the process / labour

Since capitalist mode of production relies on work specialisation and distribution,every individual is  assigned a very small specific role. Workers do not have a say in purpose , design and distribution of the product. Market forces determine,

• what is to be produced,
• how it is to be produced and
• how much is to be produced

Workers have no power and are forced to work for their subsistence. They work is monotonous, hectic, tedious, boring and less remunerative jobs which they do not like. He feels that this has destroyed the worker. Marx concludes that man is reduced to a ‘cog in a wheel’.

• Alienation from others

Since man is alienated from his product and Labour he is not able to connect with the society. Workers vision is narrowed to that of wages. Every man is encouraged to look out for himself. He is told to compete and aggrandize as much as he can. Thus man loses the narrative of common good and ends up losing one another.

• Alienation from self

Marx believed that human are creative and social. Since capitalistic system makes man to act against his nature man gets alienated from himself. Our sense of individualism is destroyed. Man feels that he is not in control of his life.

Marx interpretation of human nature and alienation is relevant even today. Most wanted man to be free from necessities. He believed that society should full fill ands basic needs. He gave the dictum from each according to his capacity and to each according to his need.

Modern Welfare state incorporates safety provisions to balance the evil effects of market fundamentalism. Further advancing the Marxian narrative of freedom from necessities, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has advocated that man can only be truly free when he is capable of achieving His true potential. He advocates State’s active participation in capacity building for individuals to actualize their true self.

Question #2. Criticism of Plato’s Idealism by Aristotle. Explain

Hints:

Aristotle and Plato were philosophers in ancient Greece who critically studied matters of ethics, science, politics, and more. Though many more of Plato’s works survived the centuries, Aristotle’s contributions have arguably been more influential, particularly when it comes to science and logical reasoning. While both philosophers’ works are considered less theoretically valuable in modern times, they continue to have great historical value.

Platonic idealism usually refers to Plato’s theory of forms or doctrine of ideas. It holds that only ideas encapsulate the true and essential nature of things, in a way that the physical form cannot. We recognize a tree, for instance, even though its physical form may be most untree-like. The tree-like nature of a tree is therefore independent of its physical form. Plato’s idealism evolved from Pythagorean philosophy, which held that mathematical formulas and proofs accurately describe the essential nature of all things, and these truths are eternal. Plato believed that because knowledge is innate and not discovered through experience, we must somehow arrive at the truth through introspection and logical analysis, stripping away false ideas to reveal the truth.

Aristotle rejects Plato’s view that idea is independent of matter and world in which we live is just the world of illusion. Even the world of matter is also world of reality. We can’t neglect the importance of world in which we live. He suggest that rules has to be wordly wise rather than just wise in the world of ideas. For Aristotle, for few things, we require logic to understand but few things we can understand on the basis of observation also. Aristotle has advocated that ruler requires common sense rather than any specialized training.

Aristotle rejected the idea of Plato’s “Theory of the Forms,” which stated that the idealized essence of an object existed apart from that object. Plato thought that physical things were representations of idealized perfect forms that existed on another plane of reality. Aristotle thought that the essence of an object existed with the thing itself. In this way, he also rejected the idea of a soul that existed outside of the physical body; instead, he believed that human consciousness resided completely with the physical form. Aristotle thought simply that the best way to gain knowledge was through “natural philosophy,” which is what we would now call science.